Senior Brandon Pasley loves meeting new people during the new P.E. Enrichment, which takes place in Gym 4 every day during lunch A and B.

  “It’s a great environment,” Pasley said. He stands with a group of about fifteen other guys, shooting hoops before a small game.

  Freshmen Zayd Lee and Zuear Lee come to Gym 4 everyday to enjoy the pick-up basketball games.

  “It’s really fun. It helps you stay fit, the competition- there’s not a lot but there’s still competition,” Zayd said, adding that they will be coming back next year.

  The idea came about after Mr. Hill, Eastern’s Vice Principal of Athletics, came to Eastern from Kingsway, another high school that had previously implemented PE Enrichment. According to Mr. Boguszewski, our administration had been trying to think of more options for student entertainment.

    Different phys. ed teachers supervise each half hour. Different kids flow throughout the gym during the lunch periods.

   Mr. Boguszewski said that during Lunch A there are somewhere between ten to twelve students. “Lunch B usually fills up where we have about 30 kids coming in,” said Boguszewski.

   Last year, due to easy accessibility from the cafeteria, Gym 4 was usually packed with freshmen. This is one part of the many changes that Eastern went through, including but not limited to, block scheduling, a campus-style lunch break, and elimination of homeroom.

   “This year it’s been better in terms of the school because it’s just spread people out more. You don’t have so many people clustered in one area and we’re keeping kids active which is good too,” said Mr. Boguszewski.

   Generally, the students will shoot some baskets for a while to warm up before starting a 3-on-3 tournament or 5-on-5 tournament.

   “For the most part they self-regulate,” said Boguszewski. “It’s not our job to set up games for them it’s really just to supervise. Some of the kids have been great who have been coming in here.”

   Because PE Enrichment gives students so much freedom, there are naturally those who will abuse it. While the lunch period is designed so that students may seek extra academic help, Boguszewski stated that he has seen occurrences of misuse. Students have been pulled out of the gym by their coaches because student-athletes are meant to be seeing their teachers during this time, instead of playing games in the gym.

   However, occurrences like this are rare, and for the most part, PE Enrichment has seen a lot of positivity and benefits.

   “I think it’s good for the kids because it basically is just another gateway to use your energy. A lot of our guys who like to play basketball come down here, and a lot of the the guys who like to do the weight room go to the weight room,” said Boguszewski.